A Quick Jot

Sorry about the delayed questions of the week. We had to do a mini-move (of mostly my books — boo) into storage. And now I have a wedding and stuff to go to, so I don’t even have time to do them now. However, do not fear. The Q of W will go up tomorrow or Monday morning at the latest.

Until then, I leave you this thought: With book returns averaging a 30% rate and some distributors using return credit to justify never paying publishers, will the book industry be able to sustain itself using the current business model? If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this article which should help better explain. This is an important issue not just for publishers, but for everyone involved in the publication process — including illustrators and authors. If the houses go down, and this can affect even the big ones, we all go down. Some houses, like Ten Speed Press (with their children’s imprint, Tricycle) already have sales policies more in line with nearly every other retail industry. However, I doubt these apply to their distributors and major booksellers.